president obama has called the top congressional leaders to the white house this afternoon, for the first talks in more than a month. but hope for a new deal is fading. just yesterday, the senate majority leader is accusing the speaker of running a dictatorship if there's no deal within four days. just about every american will see their taxes go on up. >>> and this morning, more snow is threatening to make holiday travel difficult for millions of americans. as sam has been telling us, snow is falling across the upper midwest and will be moving into the northeast tomorrow. meantime, the recovery from the last storm is just beginning. 135,000 homes and businesses still without power in arkansas alone. many of them could be in the dark through next week. >>> and this morning, russian president vladimir putin has signed a highly controversial bill which bans americans from adopting russian children. dozens of pending adoptions now frozen, even cases where children -- this is heartbreaking -- were just days away from moving to the united states. russia banned the adoptions in retaliation for